Togo First
Togo to benefit from $155 million regional project to boost financing of affordable housing
Last Friday, WAEMU’s Regional Fund for Mortgage Refinancing (CRRH-UEMOA), its commission, the West African Development Bank (BOAD) and the World Bank launched the World Bank/WAEMU regional project to promote financing of affordable housing within the WAEMU.
The launching ceremony which took place in Abidjan was chaired by Romuald Wadagni, Benin’s minister of economy and finance who is also the chairman of WAEMU’s ministers’ council.
The project which benefits from a $155 million funding, according to an official statement released by CRRH-UEMOA, aims to improve housing financing across WAEMU, especially for the people with low or irregular revenues.
It should also help cushion the shock resulting from the significant housing deficit in the region. Currently, the latter is estimated at 800,000 units per year, in a context where banks provide only around 15,000 new mortgage loans every year; that is a very small portion of what is needed. This situation should get worse considering forecasts which predict doubling of WAEMU’s population from 110 million to 220 million residents, in the next 20 years, with a great part of these living in cities.
Christian Agossa (photo), Managing Director CRRH-UEMOA, indicated that the project would enable the institution to raise concessional resources to better support low-income populations. “This project should facilitate the issuance of about 50,000 new mortgage loans, and also help raise more funds to finance housing and social housing via bonds issuances on the regional stock market and the extension of their maturities”.
In Togo, this issue is quite real and both the private and public sectors are actively engaged to overcome it. Their main goal is to provide each resident decent and affordable living conditions and if Togolese banks are able to secure a significant share of the new financing from the CRRH-UEMOA, the country’s housing sector should experience a true boom.
Séna Akoda
RFI Challenge App Afrique 2018: Dona Etchri, founder of E-agribusiness, among 10 finalists
Co-recipient of the 2018 Pitch Agrihack Talent worth a €15,000 prize, Dona Etchri, founder of E-agribusiness is now running for another award worth the same value.
According to news website Ifrii, the young entrepreneur was just selected to be one of the 10 finalists of the 2018 RFI Challenge App Afrique. Organized by France Médias Monde, the contest which aims to foster new technologies’ integration in sustainable development, indeed picked Etchri’s project out of 250 others for its third edition.
However, before he grabs the big prize, the Togolese will first have to revise and improve his project’s presentation. He will be facing other projects such as Agropad Solaire, Ayanna Tech, Mobile Agribiz, Télé Irrigation and Crops Info. Once this is done, he will be among the top three entrepreneurs running for the award. In this framework, he should be in Cotonou, Benin, next November where a jury will name the contest’s final winner.
E-agribusiness is a digital platform developed to help farmers, with or without access to smartphones or internet, to have access to the market and sell their products.
Séna Akoda
Government approves TogoPay’s creation to bolster e-payment
Togo’s minister of posts and digital economy, Cina Lawson, got the approval to develop TogoPay, an e-payment interoperable platform. This was during the ministers’ council held on September 20.
The project will be developed under a private-public partnership. It will allow its users to transfer funds through various providers, mobile and electronic payment operators, banks or others.
With it, users of a given mobile money service can easily interact with those of another network.
For example, TogoPay will enable a TMoney user (Togo Cellulaire) to send money to a Flooz user (Moov), and vice-versa. The other option is that it will enable a bank customer to deposit money on his or her account via his or her mobile money account (TMoney, Flooz, etc.).
Séna Akoda
Togo to ratify agreements to create Islamic Corporation for Private Sector Development
Togo’s government, during a ministers’ council held last Thursday, has adopted a bill to approve the ratification of an agreement to establish the Islamic Corporation for Private Sector Development (SID).
The tool which was created with a $4 billion capital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on November 3, 1999, is a subsidiary of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB). Its shareholders are IBD (45%), 53 adhering States (46%) and five public financial institutions (9%).
The SID exists to foster the economic development of its adhering States by supporting the creation, expansion and modernization of private firms, in pair with IDB’s actions.
In detail, the SID’s main goals consist in identifying opportunities in the private sector that could spur the growth of its member States, providing a wide range of financial services and products, developing Islamic finance and financial markets.
Ratifying the agreement for the creation of this institution will “enable Togo’s private sector to benefit from various opportunities and assets brought about by the new institution, especially in the sectors of agriculture, fishery, infrastructures, technology, power supply, education, health, real estate, trade and finance,” the ministers’ council said.
Séna Akoda
Togo among top 10 sukuk issuers in Africa (Moody’s)
Togo is part of the Top 10 African countries that raised the most funds by issuing sukuks, according to US rating agency Moody’s.
According to the rankings, in sub-Saharan Africa, Togo is fifth and comes after Côte d’Ivoire ($501 million), South Africa ($500 million), Nigeria ($351 million) and Mali ($285 million).
Issued in 2016 on the regional stock market, Togo’s sukuk helped the country raise $254 million (CFA150 billion).
Among the three WAEMU nations present in Moody’s top 10 is Senegal.
More globally, many ECOWAS countries sought this type of bonds. Indeed, nations like Gambia or institutions such as the Africa Finance Corporation (based in Nigeria) are some of the top sukuk issuers.
According to Moody’s, since 2014, $2.3 billion worth of sukuk have been issued by African nations. This shows how great the growth potential of the sharia-compliant bond is on the continent.
However, despite the optimistic prospects, Africa still has much to do to follow the global pace, Moody’s added. Indeed, sukuks constitute less than 5% of all of the continent’s banking assets, the New-York-based agency said. Moreover, this volume represents only 0.5% of sukuks issued worldwide.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
Togo’s government to map all artisanal and illegal mines
Togo’s government wishes to map all artisanal and illegal mines present across the country, in order to improve the sector’s governance.
According to various reports, including those of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the Directorate General of Mines and Geology (DGMG), gold and diamond mining in Togo is done traditionally at many alluvial sites. The documents however indicate that despite the sales of these resources contributing more to Togo’s exports in the past years, most of the ores exported still come from neighboring nations.
The map projected by the government, Togo First learned, will include two main axes. First, a card will be designed to identify and localize all illegal small-scale mines and quarries (sand, gravel, laterite and quartzite) across the territory.
The second axis consists in developing a database compatible with the current ArcGIS and SIG, which will contain all key information related to the sites, ranging from administrations overseeing them, their area, ore and other construction materials mined there.
The project will be financed by Mining Governance and Development Programme. The latter has actually issued a recruitment notice to hire a consultant to this end.
Séna Akoda
Togo to get CFA10bn from BOAD for water supply project
The West African Development Bank (BOAD) will pour CFA10 billion into a water supply project in Togo. The project will benefit 89 semi-urban centres.
The financing was approved during the bank’s board meeting last Wednesday in Abidjan, for its 110th ordinary session.
The monies will be used to build 35 water supply systems to serve 46 semi-urban centres. In detail, the project will involve drilling wells, river intakes, installing treatment facilities, drinking water adduction and distribution pipes, BOAD revealed.
Also is projected the construction of 39 water towers to serve 546 standpipes and 700 special water services.
Targeted centres are those with a low coverage rate, around 20%. It should be recalled that in the country, less than 60% of populations have access to drinking water, according to an official development assistance released last July.
Beside the announced financing, BOAD also committed to invest CFA4 billion in the upgrade of Hôtel 2 Février, which is now managed by Emaar Hospitality Group.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
Togolese officials in Addis Ababa for agricultural statistics training workshop
Since last Monday, 70 officials of agriculture ministries and statistics institutes from 20 African countries are being trained to agricultural statistics in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Initiated by the African Centre for Statistics of the African Economic Commission (AEC), the training falls under UN’s global strategy to improve agricultural and rural statistics. It also aims to help achieve Sustainable Development Goals and continental integration via the 2063 Agenda.
According to the program’s promoters, the meeting will help participants hone their skills in a context where agriculture contributes more than 40% of Africa’s GDP and employs more than 70% of its population.
“Statistics will now, more than it ever did in the past, play a key role as monitoring and progress measurement tool,” said Lilia Hachem Naas, Head of AEC-North Africa.
Throughout the week, the program’s participants will study and exchange their experience regarding the analysis of agricultural, fishery and post-harvest performances.
Along with seven other countries from the sub-region, Togo is also in attendance.
AEC is one of five regional commissions that are part of the UN’s Social and Economic Council. It was established in 1958 to promote economic cooperation between its member-States.
Octave A. Bruce
BOAD to provide Togo CFA4bn to upgrade five-star 2 Février Hotel
On the sidelines of its 110th ordinary session last Wednesday in Abidjan, the West African Development Bank (BOAD) approved a CFA4 billion financing to upgrade Togo’s 2 Février Hotel in Lomé.
The regional bank, highlighting that the funds would be soon disbursed, added that they will mainly be used to purchase and install equipment for the upgrade. These include fire alarm, air-conditioning, heating and ventilation systems as well as elevators.
The infrastructure was trusted to the care of Emirati Emaar Hospitality Group last June and was subsequently renamed Address Hotel 2. Opened in 1980, it was fully rehabilitated by Kalyan Group which secured the related operating license for the 30 years. It is one of the major assets for business tourism in Togo, one that the nation wishes to leverage on to become a regional business hub.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
Vlisco Fashion Fund: Application deadline extended to September 30
Initially set for September 16, 2018, closing of applications to the Vlisco Fashion Fund contest has been extended to September 30, a note released on the event’s official page reveals.
African designers thus still have the chance to apply and possibly win the €5000 reward the challenge offers.
Beside the money, winning candidates will benefit from a two-week professional internship in Holland. However, they will have to reinvest the funds in their own business.
Let’s recall that to apply, designers must have a professional experience of at least three years in the fashion industry, have at least two employees and be able to show in what way their business needs the €5000 prize to grow.
Séna Akoda